CASE C48 · HK · 2025
Hong Kong Geotechnical Engineering Office: regulatory-sandbox pilots of LiDAR and thermal drones for slope and natural-terrain monitoring
Hong Kong's Geotechnical Engineering Office is running two sandbox pilots of autonomous LiDAR and thermal drones for natural hillsides and engineered slopes; the first has finished initial data collection. No performance figures exist yet, and the recent drop in landslides was attributed to weather.
| Owner | Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO), Civil Engineering and Development Department, Hong Kong SAR Government |
| Provider | — |
| Location | Hong Kong, China (first pilot at Tai Mong Tsai, Sai Kung) |
| Aircraft | Autonomous drones (models not stated) |
| Sensors | LiDAR, thermal infrared, AI analytics |
Before
Manual patrols and inspections of man-made slopes and natural terrain; altitude limits restricted wide-area flights over hillsides. Hong Kong averages about 300 landslides a year.
With drones
Two low-altitude-economy sandbox pilots: one surveys natural hillsides beyond normal height limits, the other patrols engineered slopes and works on pre-programmed routes; AI is to locate landslides quickly after heavy rain.
Outcomes
| Metric | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| pilot status | first pilot at Tai Mong Tsai completed initial data collection (June 2025) | Reported |
| wider rollout | technologies expected to be widely applied by 2026 | Target |
| time / accuracy | not reported | Reported |
- Announcements at the pilot stage; no slope counts, accuracy or time results.
- Landslides fell from 601 (2023) to 181 (2024), but the GEO attributed this mainly to fewer exceptionally heavy downpours, not to new technology.
- Wide-area natural-terrain flights needed a regulatory sandbox to get past height restrictions, so the method depends on airspace permissions.
Sources
- 2 Hong Kong pilot schemes testing drones in landslide prevention operationsSouth China Morning Post Full text read
- GEO briefing on slope safety: drones, AI landslide model and mitigation programmeChina Daily Hong Kong Full text read
Sources checked: 2026-10-22